Obama gives Patrick a boost in Mass.

BOSTON — Two weeks before an election in which he faces widespread political fallout, President Barack Obama campaigned for a race that means little to his future agenda or his reelection effort.

The president made a personal call to Massachusetts on Saturday in hopes of putting his close friend, Gov. Deval Patrick, over the top in a tight four-way race.

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“Now Deval and I, we go back a little ways, so I’m a little biased here,” Obama said at a rally for Patrick inside the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. “But the reason I came today isn’t just because Deval has been there for me as a friend; it’s because he continues to inspire me as a leader.”

Obama and Patrick’s affection for each other was on full display Saturday.

“In our work in our journey, we are not alone: We have a partner in the White House,” Patrick said during a rousing speech in which he introduced Obama as “the leader of the free world.”

The two embraced several times and chatted for a few moments on stage as the crowd cheered.

“I’ve been campaigning for a lot of folks. And sometimes you get used to hearing politicians speak. Occasionally, I gotta admit, I’ll be back there on the BlackBerry,” Obama said. “But when Deval speaks, I listen.”

Comparisons between Obama and Patrick are often drawn: Two of the most prominent African-American politicians in the country, they both ran as change candidates at pivotal political moments. They share Chicago roots and key political advisers: Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, David Plouffe, and senior White House adviser David Axelrod, who was in Boston with Patrick on Friday and Saturday.

Now the two leaders are out on the campaign trail offering voters the same arguments for sticking with them as their popularity sags.

“To paraphrase a friend of mine, Deval Patrick, up in Massachusetts,” Obama said at a Democratic fundraiser last month, “the last election was about a changing of the guard. This election is about guarding the change.”

If there’s a lesson for Obama in Patrick’s race, it may not be an inspiring one.

“We have a lot of people hurting, really hurting here in Massachusetts and in Boston,” said Ray Flynn, the former three-term mayor of Boston. “And so Barack Obama, you know, it’s on his watch. Will we hold Deval Patrick responsible for that? I don’t think so. I think it’s a national situation.”

“How you go into an election with those people unhappy about what is happening in America and tell them to stay the course?” Flynn added. “That’s a tough one.”